India is an agrarian country. Despite huge engagement in this pursuit, the farmer community has been bearing innumerable losses since ages. Initially, during the 90’s, as Vilas Vishnu Shinde worked on several agricultural projects, his comprehension of the ground reality got clearer about how the resources were insufficient.
So, the inspiration behind establishing Sahyadri Farmers Producer Company Limited (SFPCL) evolved on the basis of personal experiences. Whatever experiments Vilas did on his farms, the developments that took place in that decade, farmer agitations etc made him determined enough to pursue farming as his profession while working for the rural community. These experiences altogether gave wings to his idea of creating a sustainable ecosystem.
Today as Chairman & Managing Director of Sahyadri Farms, Vilas recalls, “My vision was also inspired by Amul & Dr Kurien, And in 2010, Sahyadri Farms’ was born with a broader vision of bridging the gap between urban & rural communities, by creating crop specific value chains owned by farmers which can sustain in global competition.”
From 1995 to 2004, Vilas did a lot of experiments to pursue farming as a profession. In the initial three years, he worked with Anna Hazare for rural development, where projects included watershed development, soil-water conservation etc. In those years, he intensely got to work in almost 15 villages within Pune & Nagar district.
A sustainable ecosystem
Vilas started farming by making changes in the cropping pattern specifically on the horticulture crop side, from traditional grape farming to exotic crops that included baby corn, broccoli, iceberg, lettuce, asparagus etc. He adds, “After a point, I also initiated innovative experiments to replicate the ecosystem of a Chikmagalur coffee plantation in Nashik. Further, I did some experiments in dairy & vermicompost. So in the initial 8-9 years, I took up varied community based projects.”
On one hand, Vilas was understanding the farming challenges as mostof the activities were loss making while on the other hand, he was guiding farmers regarding challenges in terms of watershed development and scarcity. “Ironically, a lot of the practices failed on my farms. The question then arose as to how could we recommend other farmers to use them if they weren’t sustainable enough? All this happened within the first 8 years of my career. I faced major ups & downs throughout the process but not once did I give up on the thought of creating a sustainable ecosystem for farmers,” he shares.
Then in 2004, Vilas formed an informal group of 10 farmers and they started Grape exports from his hometown, Adgaon. From then until 2021, the area under grape cultivation covers 5,500 acres that is looked after by a tight-knit community of 1250+ farmers.
Sahyadri Farms is driven by the vision of transforming the scenario of traditional Indian farming. Productivity in the F&V & Floriculture sector is achieved due to advanced Agro-technology, close involvement of Agronomists with the farmers & fair-trade practices to empower sustainable farming.
The product line includes fruits & vegetables, flowers etc. in sustainable horticulture. Along with this there is also a wide range of processed, frozen as well as FMCG products like tomato ketchup, soup, purees, dry fruits, staples & pulps. The motive of Sahyadri’s value-chain is to provide safe, healthy & affordable food products to consumers.
Sahyadri Farms uses several channels to sell the produce:
Exports: Supply is done to 42+ countries throughout the year, including European countries, some Gulf countries, Russia and other neighbouring countries. Since 2015, Sahyadri Farms has been able to hold the position of being India’s largest Grape Exporter till date.
B2B Institutional Market – Products are manufactured at a world-class facility in Nashik for companies on a P2P basis. For example, HUL’s Kissan Ketchup is produced at its plant that later undergoes further processing. Similarly, supply to vendors & traders is done via B2B model.
B2C (retail) – From 2015 to date, the FPO has established 13 retail stores in prime cities of Maharashtra and an independent e-commerce website as a platform for online fruits & vegetables shopping.
Sahyadri Farms is connected with ‘Maersk line’ for logistics on the export front & for B2B it has its own network. Sahyadri Farms is also GLOBAL G.A.P certified. GLOBAL G.A.P. also known as the Integrated Farm Assurance Standard (IFA), covers Good Agricultural Practices for agriculture and horticulture production. GLOBAL G.A.P. encourages farmers to adopt safe and sustainable farming practices and supports Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.
By linking small, medium and large-scale farms to local and global corporate food buyers, Global G.A.P helps farmers utilise globally recognised certificates to access new markets. It is the most widely accepted private sector food safety certification in the world.
Vilas says, “Through this certification, we demonstrate our adherence to GLOBAL G.A.P. standards that are guidelines developed by the food industry, producers’ organisations, governments and NGOs, aiming to codify agricultural practices at farm level for a range of commodities.”
A role model for FPOs
Initially, the Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) only focused on ‘Grapes’ in order to sort out how it could create a strong value chain. From seed-to-plate, post-harvest to marketing. Vilas informs, “My thought was clear back then – only one crop won’t be sufficient. So, we have to put the same effort into all crops. Especially horticulture crops which will be very beneficial for Indian farmers. I would want the marginal farmers to gain a minimum Rs 50k per month using existing resources of land.”
This is only possible through crops which will have market potential and get better pricing in the international market. “Hence, at Sahyadri Farms we are focusing on creating such stories where we can encourage other FPOs to follow a similar path. Our vision is to develop strong value chains, for which we are currently working on other commodities like sericulture, cotton, bamboo etc,” he adds.
Considering the current scenario of FPOs across the country, Vilas feels that the operations need to be more aligned with the end objective. “We have many FPOs around but most of them are not functioning with complete capacity. Once a thought is put into creating an ecosystem, the focus should be on growing the community & further analysing how they can make operations efficient and how the cost can be reduced. Sahyadri Farms has recently established an Incubation Centre that imparts knowledge about growing the FPOs. So this is how each community can take steps ahead for better functioning,” he points out.
Even before the pandemic, major losses were being borne by the cluster of Grapes cultivators due to natural calamities. Vilas explains, “By the time we recovered from this setback, Covid-19 happened and kept growing, disrupting operations. Complications included 40% of the crop yet to be harvested, 300+ containers which were shipped on March 21, last year were stuck mid journey, dropped prices of sales etc. The challenges occurred on multiple levels:
Labourer Level: Owing to social distancing and national lockdown, the challenge that persisted was to continue with the operations at the plant with no teams. Therefore, local groups of villagers from the nearby regions were successfully formed with ordered safety regulations.
Market Level: Fruits & vegetables being the essential commodities, markets were open but the damages occurred were huge.
Anticipating the situation, Sahyadri Farms ventured into the domestic retail chain industry and gradually, fruit & vegetable baskets were offered via online access during the peak period of lockdown.
Vilas sums up, “So while the impact has been massive, we believe that the experiences shaped us well to effectively confront the massive challenge of Covid-19.”
Also read: Be a part of The Circular Economy: Mend and extend the life of your garments
